Chronology of the Armenian Genocide -- 1915 (October-December)

Click on the names of highlighted cities, towns, and other locations to view a map of the genocide.

October 1

U.S. Secretary of State Robert Lansing delivers a note to German Ambassador Bernstorff relating to the massacres of the Armenians.

October 1

The governor-general of Sivas Province, Ahmed Muammer, travels to Amasia and elsewhere to inspect the completion and effect of the massacres in preparation for Talaat's inspection trip.

October 1

600 Armenian orphan boys are Turkified in Herek.

September

(General Vehib Pasha reported during the postwar court martial that in September 1915, Behaeddin Shakir assembled and used murdering cutthroats in the Third Army Zone [the six eastern or Armenian provinces of Turkey].)

October 4

The Interior Ministry advises against the need of opening orphanages and prolonging the life of Armenian children.

October 7

By this date the number of deported Armenians still living is estimated at 360,000 minimum, and the number of Armenians dead is estimated at 800,000 minimum.

October 7

$75,000 is collected in the United States for relief for the Armenian deportees.

October 7

In the British House of Lords a general discussion of the Armenian situation takes place. Lord Bryce, Lord Crewe, and Lord Cromer condemn the Turkish barbarities.

Lord Bryce remarks that Germany could stop the massacres if it wished to do so.

October 16

20,000 Armenian deportees in transit are murdered in the city and environs of Urfa.

October 18

The governor-general of Sivas Province, Ahmed Muammer Bey, inspects the carrying out of his orders for the deportation and destruction of the Armenians in the province, in anticipation of Talaat's inspection trip which occurs shortly thereafter.

October 18

A large public gathering to protest the massacres of the Armenians by the Turkish government is held in the Century Theater in New York. Rabbi Wise, B. Cochrane, Dr. Barton, and H. Holt are the main speakers.

October 18

Mufti Zade Zia, a Turkish propagandist, writing in New York describes the Armenians as traitors.

October 22

The Turkish Embassy in Washington accuses the Armenians of treason against the Ottoman state.

October 25

Halil Bey of Menteshe, the Vice-President of the Turkish Chamber of Deputies and president of the State Council, becomes Minister of Foreign Affairs.

October 25

Instructions are issued requesting that within one week documents be sent to the Interior Ministry indicting the Armenian people as traitors.

Numerous Armenian families are deported from Adrianople (Edirne) at midnight without prior notice upon the order of Acting Governor-general Zekerie.

October 28

Per earlier instructions sent by Talaat, 80,000 Armenian deportees left the Konia (Konya) station for Bozanti on this date on their way to their 'final destination.' These 80,000 were deportees from cities near Constantinople and from the Armenian communities in the western parts of Turkey.

October 31

Instructions are issued advising that the special measures taken against the Armenians be conducted in places beyond the view of foreigners and especially the American consuls.

October 31

Instructions are issued for the trial by court martial of any Armenian reporting the events of the deportations to any foreigner.

November 3

Doctor Schacht, a German army physician, stationed near the village of Der-el-Zor (Deir el-Zor) village, reports counting 7,000 severed Armenian heads (skulls) in Sabgha District near the Euphrates River.

November 4

The German consul in Mosul reports that Halil Pasha's soldiers had massacred the Armenians north of Mosul and were preparing to massacre the Armenians in the city of Mosul.

November 5

On this date, 10,000 Armenian deportees are reported in Bozanti, 20,000 deportees in Tarsus, 40,000 deportees in Islahiye, and 50,000 deportees in Katma.

The Turkish authorities again make preparations to deport the 200,000 Armenians of Constantinople.

November 11

Jemal Pasha, as commander of Syria, seeks to court martial the dean of the Realschule in Aleppo and other German signatories of the protest of October 15 for publicizing the Armenian events in Cilicia.

November 13

20,000 Armenian deportees are reported in the Hawran District of Trans-Jordan. (On November 15, 1918, only 450 of this group of 20,000 were reported alive.)

November 13

On this date, 10,000 Armenian deportees were reported in Intille (Intili) and 150,000 deportees were reported in Katma living under terrible conditions, disease-wracked and starving.

November 14

The Anglican and the Orthodox Churches ask U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to pressure the German government to intervene with the Turkish government to stop the massacre of the Armenians.

November 15

The German Charge d'affaires Baron Konstantin von Neurath, welcomes the new ambassador, Paul Count von Wolff-Metternich, who represented Imperial Germany from this date until October 3, 1916. The Charge d'affaires had been in charge of the German diplomatic representation in Turkey since October 2, 1915, when Hohenlohe had departed.

November 16

The fields in Bakche District were reported littered with the corpses of many thousands of Armenians who had starved to death while being deported through here.

November 17

Sir Robert Cecil protests the Turkish charge that the massacres were a response to an Armenian revolt, and charges that they were the result of a premeditated plan on the part of the Turkish government.

November 18

A circular telegram is sent ordering the deportation of Armenian children.

November 18

Talaat leaves Constantinople for an inspection tour of Anatolia. He returns on December 18.

November 25

Up to this date, 500,000 Armenian deportees are estimated to have passed through Bozanti (northwest of Adana).

The fields around the village of Mamure (Mamura) are reported littered with several thousand corpses of starved or murdered deportees who had been traveling through.

December 4

10,000 Armenian bachelors are deported from the city of Constantinople up to this date. A list is prepared of 70,000 Armenian individuals to be deported from Constantinople.

December 6

A circular telegram instructs that no Armenian is to be left alive in the eastern provinces.

December 7

The German ambassador Wolff-Metternich goes to the Sublime Porte in connection with the massacres and is told that nothing could be discussed until Talaat's return.

December 9

Orders are issued in Aleppo Province for the deportation of 400 Armenian orphans previously placed in an orphanage.

December 12

180,000 Armenian refugees from Turkey who had reached Tiflis (Tbilisi) are reported to be in dire conditions.

December 14

Orders are issued for the killing of Armenian priests.

December 15

A circular telegram clarifies that the purpose of the deportations is annihilation.

December 16

Instructions are issued advising against slowing the deportations and urging the dispatch of the deportees to the desert.

December 18

Talaat returns from Anatolia. German Ambassador Wolff-Metternich is told by Talaat that the Turks are not killing innocents.

December 22

Orders are issued forbidding the acceptance from any Armenian of an application of exemption from the deportations.

December 25

Orders are issued for the deportation of all children except those who did not remember their parents.

December 29

On this date, of the estimated 210,000 refugees who had reached the Caucasus, only 173,000 are reported still living, almost 40,000 having died as a result of privations and disease. Of the remaining 173,000, 105,000 were from Van Province, 48,000 from Bayazid (Bayazit) District, 20,038 from Mush District.

December 30

A circular telegram, as a follow-up on the telegram of December 15, instructs that Armenians desiring to convert to Islam are to be notified that their Islamization must take place after they reach their final destination. In view of the earlier instructions clarifying the purpose of the deportations as annihilation, the new instructions imply that Armenians are no longer to be allowed to escape destruction for any reason.